Vice President Kashim Shettima has revealed that former President Goodluck Jonathan once attempted to remove him from office while he was serving as Governor of Borno State.

Speaking on Thursday in Abuja at the public presentation of a memoir by former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), Shettima described himself as the “most demonised” public official during Jonathan’s administration.

“In the last four years of former President Jonathan’s government, I was the most demonised person; I was public enemy number one,” Shettima said.

Recalling the incident, Shettima said that amid the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, top officials in Jonathan’s government secretly planned to remove him from office.

“There are two gentlemen here Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Tambuwal who stood for the constitution,” he noted. “In one of those closed-door meetings involving the President, Vice President, Senate President, and Speaker, former President Jonathan floated the idea of removing me as Borno governor.”

Shettima recounted how Tambuwal courageously reminded the President that he lacked the constitutional authority to remove an elected official, saying: “Your Excellency, you don’t have the powers to remove an elected councillor.”

When the matter was raised at the Federal Executive Council, Adoke firmly backed the constitutional position, telling the President: “Mr. President, you do not have the powers to remove a sitting governor—not even a councillor.” Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in the cabinet, Kabiru Turaki, reportedly agreed with Adoke, and the plan was abandoned.

Shettima said the episode forged a lasting bond between him, Adoke, and Tambuwal, praising their courage and commitment to upholding democratic principles.